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www.musicweek.com TERRITORYREPORT CATALONIA MADE IN CATALONIA The small Spanish region that’s keen to see its local music echo far beyond its proud borders...


04.05.12 MusicWeek 41


INTERNATIONAL  BY TOM PAKINKIS


I


f there’s one thing that characterises Catalonia it’s a steadfast sense of pride. Geographically, it’s a small section at the top of Spain that encompasses


a mere four provinces over 32 square kilometres. It’s home to just seven-and-a-half million people, yet it stands autonomous, proudly clutching its own flag and retaining its own politics, culture and language. That determination to preserve a unique locality


has meant the phrase ‘Made in Catalonia’ still has a certain romance to it. But there’s a growing agreement within the Catalan music industry that it’s time to start pushing beyond those borders in order to grab the attention of the rest of Spain and the world. “The main challenge we face at the moment is


achieving maximum presence for musicians from Catalonia and the Balearic Islands on the international circuit,” explains Maria Lladó of Institut Ramon Llull (IRL), the organisation constituted with promoting Catalan language and culture internationally since 2002. “This involves convincing the wider music


industry and other companies that Catalan and Balearic Island groups have a real chance in the global market. “Bookers in the most relevant international


markets are a key sector,” Lladó adds. “We also have to establish an efficient and strong distribution capacity in terms of the internet and visual and digital applications. “Equally, it’s still necessary to remember the importance of the CD format in some key countries, where both physical distribution and records licenses need to be considered.


Mark Davyd (bottom left) heads Outstanding


Artists, a multi-faceted company that includes management, publishing and promotion among its services for artists both inside Catalonia and out. While IRL’s Lladó emphasises the need for headway on a business front, Davyd reminds us that a successful export begins with a great sound. “On the international front, the Catalan industry


needs to develop a better set of ears for what’s going to work in other territories,” he suggests. “There’s a lot of great music coming out right now, but not all of it is going to work in the international market.


ABOVE


International flavour: Barcelona quintet Love Of Lesbian have toured worldwide, including a support gig for The Cure


BELOW Catalan Sounds On Tour: Muchachito Bombo Infierno will be one of the acts coming to Brighton’s Great Escape


CATALAN SOUNDS ON TOUR


INSTITUT RAMON LLULL’S MAIN MUSIC PROJECT this year is Catalan Sounds on Tour 2012: Music from Catalonia & The Balearic Islands. The initiative has the all-important aim of bringing the wide variety of musical styles in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands to an international audience. The tour has already visited


SXSW, Canadian Music Week and Vive Latino in Mexico and will conclude this month in Brighton, where Institute Ramon Llull will present Catalan Sounds as international partner at The Great Escape. The Director of the Institut Ramon Llull, Vicenç Villatoro, reiterates the


mission of IRL is “to give visibility abroad to all the creative output that takes place here, while at the same time striving for the Catalan language to be present”. To that end, he describes the Catalan Sounds on Tour project as a two-pronged strategy of “making the most of the assets we have as a culture, while presenting our new emerging values, preferably on well-lit stages, that are renowned in the industry”.


“That’s not just down to a language barrier,” he


argues, “it’s about identifying those artists who have something unique to offer, not simply a Catalan version of something that already exists.” Live Nation’s Robert Grima agrees that the


Catalan music industry needs to burst its geographical banks but is also keen to point out that progress is being made. “The Catalan market has a huge potential and, in my opinion, the main challenge is to prove that language is not a barrier but a way to understand Catalan culture more,” he tells Music Week. “Catalan music should show itself to the world not as a local product, but as a universal product, ready to be used and understood by anyone, not just Catalan audiences. “In my opinion Catalan music is still taking its


first steps on the global stage but now it’s beginning to open to international markets,” he adds. “Some Catalan bands like Standstill, el Guincho (who, granted, is from the Canary Islands but lives in Barcelona), John Talabot, Love of Lesbian or Manel, have already been introduced in other markets, with tours in the US or South America, UK, and Europe, with great success.” IRL’s Maria Lladó adds: “There is a demand and


an interest from international programmers, and the creation of the Catalan Sounds tour (left), lead by the Institut Ramon llull, proves it.” President of Universal Music Iberian Peninsula


Fabrice Benoit (below) also points to Catalan music as still being quite restricted in terms of its reach, “with the exception of Manel last year and Silvia Perez now”, but also suggests that the local market itself is perhaps artificially strengthened by that ever burning sense of pride. “I guess they benefit from a kind of political buying: ‘I am not buying CDs


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